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aaronsgross
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Name: Aaron
Country: United States
State: Ohio
Metro: Mansfield
Birthday: 4/27/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: pursuing Yeshua as his talmid, learning everyday how to be a better husband and dad,
Expertise: talking, thinking, dreaming...
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
AIM:  aaronsgross
Member Since:
8/25/2005
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| so I have been away for a while and I thought I would give you all an update on how life has been over these past couple of months. this past summer Jenn and I were making plans to start out on a new journey. we had decided to look into starting a church and thought that Jesus was leading us. I went and communicated this to my senior pastor who was at the time my boss and hoped for his support. at first it definitely seemed as if he was in full support and this encouraged me. but things quickly took a different shape, but more on that in just a bit. so we prepared to go to the assessment center which is essentially a week long interview for aspiring church planters to decide whether or not you can cut it or not. we spoke with many people prior to this week and were encouraged that we would do very well. well I can report that we did do very well and made some good friends. although our plans changed and they wanted us to wait atleast 18 months to gain more experience in the type of ministry that I was passionate about doing. it took us some time to be ok with their decision but we began to see it as a blessing. but here comes the tough part. I had to travel back to ohio and communicate to my senior pastor (my boss at the time) that plans had changed. I was a bit nervous because we had already talked about transitioning out of the church over the next few months and now I was hoping to stay for 18 months. so I sit down with the boss and communicate to him all that had happened and the next thing I know is that I am fired. I was instructed to clean out my office by tomr evening and to never return. yes I know another great example of the church being the church. I pray for him (my former boss) that he meets Jesus and begins his own journey on the road to recovering his heart from brokenness.
so life got very interesting. I vowed to never work in the church (or atleast the christian church that we know here in the states) again. we moved back home to be closer to family and friends. and I was in search of a new career. through lots and lots of tears, confusion, and a longing to be where Jesus wanted us to be....I believe we are right where he wants us. I have a great job, we are moving into our new place this weekend that is located less than 2 minutes away from our best friends who we have longed to be close to in years and we are starting to be happy again which has not been the case for some time now. I feel like I can follow Jesus the way I was meant to follow him now that I am not under a strong hold by the church. I feel free.
so although life has been messy...it makes us stronger. and in our case it has brought us closer to Jesus and we feel more free now then we ever have.
here are some pictures of our two boys in the leaves from this past halloween season.
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| the past couple of days I have been struck with this passage in Hosea. it's found in chapter 2 verses 14-16.
14. "But then I will win her back once again. I will lure her out into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. 15. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
16. "In that coming day," says the LORD, "you will call me `my husband' instead of `my master.' O Israel, I will cause you to forget your images of Baal; even their names will no longer be spoken.
first, growing up in the church I never thought of G-d being a god like this. the idea of Him showing His love for me even when I'm in rebellion. It's like G-d is trying to woo us back into an intimate relationship with Him like He once had. Waiting for the day that we actually return. what a crazy though but it makes me feel good. it's puting a new perspective on how I view G-d.
it's also teaching me about being a dad. already in this short time of my being a dad and now having two kids under 4 i have been tested quite a bit. our 3 1/2 year old is getting to that stage of talking back and really testing the limits. I started to think how I am like that in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and how He is still luring me out into the desert and speaking tenderly to me in hopes that I may return to how it once was. I need to learn from Him. I need to remember that "Love Wins." that really all it takes is real genuine "LOVE."
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|  | Currently Reading
A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN
By Brian D. McLaren
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so we left last friday afternoon with the two boys and headed for hocking hills state park. where we stayed in this brand new log cabin in the woods. very nice. we very much enjoyed our time as a family all together everday with nothing to do but just spend some great quality time with each other. each day we ventured off into the woods to explore the various caves and waterfall that are in the area. it was during these hikes that I felt as if G-d was trying to say to us...look, look what I made and it's all for your enjoyment. amazing stuff. here are some pictures of our time in the painting.
this last picture is obviously not from our walk...but it is our adorable 8 month old son Owen doing his new favorite activity....SWIMMING! | | |
| Today we had a tree cut down in our backyard. a friend from the church who is a lumberjack came over and cut down the tree that broke in half during the storm a couple of weeks ago. it was kind of fun to watch the tree come falling down but I have to admit I was kind of nervous something bad was going to happen. fortunaley everything went good. check out the pics.
  
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| I was watching this movie about Mother Teresa the other day and it was such a beautiful story of someone who desired to walk with Jesus. everything was so simple to her. she just wanted to be a part of what God did and what He wanted. I found myself being comforted with her lifestyle. she always kept it simple. simply following Jesus into the poorest of the poor in India.
why do we insist on making things so hard. Jesus said come follow me. that's it. just follow me. if he is our rabbi and we are his disciples than all we are asked to do is to follow him. wherever he is or wherever he goes. following our rabbi.
recently I have been gaining vision very similar to that of Mother Teresa's. my hope and prayer for myself is that I will always keep it simple. simply following Jesus where he is at. that I may never lose heart of passion for relationship with Jesus.
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